By Stephen Henderson
It was a struggle for the Patrick County High School Cougars Friday night as they traveled to Floyd to play the Buffaloes. Floyd County shut out the Cougars 35-0.
Floyd County scored early on a 60-yard punt return two minutes into the game; they scored again just moments before the half to up the score 14-0 at the half.
Coach Derrick Jones considered the defensive efforts of the Cougars to be good work for the first half, stopping several Buffalo drives.
The second half saw the Cougar offense fall flat. Floyd dominated both offensively and defensively. It appeared that the Cougar defense just ran out of steam.
“We lost the field position battle and gave them too many possessions on our side of the field,” said Coach Jones. “We have to find a way to move the ball next week to be successful, but our defense is playing at a level that we were kept in the game for the first half.”
Three Cougar running backs were injured for Friday night’s contest. Jones is concerned that the team will be forced down some new avenues to make up for the injured players.
Moving the ball is key to the Cougar offense—with the injuries, Jones will be looking for some new players to get the job done.
Tyvin Martin was one bright spot for the Cougars Friday night. He had three tackles for big losses as well as rushing 18 times for 70 yards.
“Matt Amos played his best game of the season defensively,” Jones said. Amos also caught a Logan Hutchens pass for 23 yards.
This week the Cougars travel to Carroll County for a 7 p.m. game.
